Guests at William Rast’s Wednesday evening show at Cedar Lake in Chelsea found staggered sets of tiered benches set around the event space, forming an H-pattern. There wasn’t a bad seat in the house. As soon as the lights went out, a band in the corner, Freesol, kicked into some rock ‘n’ roll and a giant LED screen dramatically lit up. As models took their walks towards the photographers’ pit, cameras caught them at different angles and projected them live onto a large screen in the back.

The cameras were focused on the front row, too. Singers Estelle and Matt Morris, French Vogue’s Carine Roitfeld, Vogue’s Anna Wintour and actress Jessica Biel, girlfriend of Justin Timberlake were all in attendance. Mr. Timberlake and his childhood friend Trace Ayala are William Rast’s creative directors.

The clothes were in line with the Americana rock edge the label has presented in the past. Jeans were tight and faded blue, with some just-so holes. Jackets were leather, laced up and biker-inspired. Native American influences entered the collection, with ponchos, coats and turquoise headbands. A lot of models, male and female, sported fluffy raccoon tails off their hips.

The men’s overcoats swung behind the models like capes and would ratchet up any banker’s cool quotient. Fur details on women’s jackets brought a touch of too-cool-for-school to a jeans ensemble. The leather, fur and wool jackets were the most memorable.

Comments (2 of 2)

Awful. This is NOT Native American fashion, this is a re-hash of comic-book stereotypes of Indians with headbands and fake feathers. Corny and trite, yes, but not certainly not influenced by anything representing us. Sigh.

5:02 pm February 18, 2010

jacki wrote :

great. happy to see more interesting fashion apart from the uptight uptown boring stuff.hope theres more of it.